Humour                                                                                                     Top ^

A classic piece of political Humour by former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam:

Question:

‘It has been said that you are the best thing the Labor Government has going for it. What would happen to the Government if you fell under a bus tomorrow?’

Whitlam:

‘With the improvements my government has initiated in urban transport, this is unlikely to happen’.

Here is another bit of humour sent by our great friend Amal Dossary in Bahrain entitled ‘Do you love your boss’:

A guy phones up his boss, but gets the bosses’ wife instead. “I’m afraid he died last week”, she explains. The next day the man calls again and asks for the boss. “I told you” the wife replies, “he died last week”. The next day he calls again and once more asks to speak to his boss. By this time the wife is getting upset and shouts, “I’VE ALREADY TOLD YOU TWICE, MY HUSBAND, YOUR BOSS, DIED LAST WEEK! WHY DO YOU KEEP CALLING?”

“Coz,” he replied laughing, “I just love hearing it….”

The Value of Books                                                                                 Top ^

Bank of I.D.E.A.S. is strongly committed to both writing and distributing quality publications.  The written word in publication form is an invaluable resource. The great quality about the value of books from the past is reflected in the following quotes –

‘A book is a most delightful companion . . . an inanimate thing, yet it talks.  There is in the world no friend more faithful and attentive, no teacher more proficient . . . a book will join you in solitude, accompany you in exile, serve as a candle in the dark and entertain you in your loneliness.  It will do you good and ask no favour in return.  It gives and does not take.’

(Moses Iba Ezra, 12^th Century)

‘Outside a dog, a book is a man’s best friend.  Inside a dog, it’s too dark to read.’

(Groucho Marx)

Children and Youth Library – Ethiopia : Update                                  Top ^

In our last edition we told you about a team of Ethiopian young people lead by Konjit Berhanu, a trained lawyer, who the Bank of I.D.E.A.S. is assisting to establish a library for children and young people of Ledeta, a sub city of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.

With financial assistance from Bank of I.D.E.A.S. Konjit, and her team have secured a place from which the library will operate (see adjacent photo).

The task ahead for Konjit and her team is to now stock the library with furniture and resources such as books, videos etc.

Whilst donations of books are very important, they are very costly to send to Ethiopia. If you would like to assist, donations of cash to purchase books and furniture locally in Ethiopia are preferred. Also, when the resources are purchased in Ethiopia it helps to stimulate the local economy and more appropriate resources can be acquired for the library

Click here for more details or email Peter Palmer (pp@bankofideas.com.au) to donate.

52 Terrific Tips – Guaranteed to improve your selling and service Top ^

Sustainability & Resource Recovery in New Zealand                         Top ^

Warren Snow has been a friend of Bank of I.D.E.A.S. for many years and recently assisted in putting together a study tour together for us in New Zealand looking at the pros and cons of ‘Big Box’ retail developments.

Warren has worked in the area of community economic development for 20 years and amongst other interests is CEO of Envision New Zealand which was established in September 2000 to support communities and organisations working towards sustainability.

Envision NZ aims to provide quality advice, technical support and project facilitation to help communities utilise natural assets to build strong, healthy, and sustainable communities. They have a strong focus on environmental management in the areas of resource recovery and zero waste management, as well as community enterprise.

Envision NZ also has a range of resources available on their website including ‘Resourceful Communities – A Guide to Resource Recovery Centres in New Zealand’.

For more details we recommend you visit their website.

Great Initiative: The Memphis Manifesto – Building a Community of Ideas

100 people meeting in Memphis, USA decided to issue this manifesto as they accepted the responsibility to be the stewards of creativity in their own communities.  They committed themselves to go back to their communities to infuse these principles of the Manifesto into their social lives and public policies, and share their accomplishments with each other.  Below is their preamble and principles.

Click here to read entire article….

Maryborough, Queensland – What a special place                             Top ^

Peter Kenyon had the privilege and pleasure of spending two days in July in one of his favourite heritage communities – Maryborough, Queensland located north of Brisbane. 

Firstly, Peter was a guest speaker at the Wide Bay – Burnett Regional Conference, addressing the theme ‘Youth Entrepreneurship’ (email Peter Palmer at pp@bankofideas.com.au for a copy of Peter’s presentation notes).  Secondly, Peter assisted with the Youth Leaders Program of Maryborough’s Mayor, Barbara Havard.  Peter came away from his two days absolutely gob smacked with the passion and creativity of Maryborough.  Below are examples of interesting initiatives that Peter believes other individuals and communities around the world could learn from.

Click here to read entire article….

Social Capital                                                                                            Top ^

Social capital is the glue that holds community together. It is created from a myriad of daily interactions between people. It originates with people engaging in social connections, groups and networks and based on principles of trust and reciprocity.

Building stocks of social capital is essential for a healthy community – it is simply the most important form of capital that any community can accumulate.

Social capital is a concept that Bank of I.D.E.A.S strongly adheres to and building community connectedness is one of the great challenges of today. Below are links to our two updated information sheets on social capital.

Two Great Retail Development Newsletters                                       Top ^

The Bank of I.D.E.A.S. highly rates two companies specialising in retail development – Terrific Trading and John Stanley and Associates.  Both have great free newsletters, which are well worth subscribing to. Click on their business names below to check out their websites and to register for their free newsletters.

Lyndsey Jackson -  A New Face at Bank of I.D.E.A.S                         Top ^

Back in 2000 Lyndsey met Peter Kenyon at a Community Builders Workshop in her hometown of Moonta in South Australia. When she was asked by Peter “Where do you want to work?” she replied “for you”. Lyndsey is enthusiastic and passionate about community building and generating options for young people. Lyndsey is studying Sustainable Development at Murdoch University looking at sustainable communities. She is also heavily involved in community organisations in her local area. Five years on, after crossing to the other side of the country, Lyndsey has been given what she describes as her dream job.

Launceston City ‘Big Box’ Retail’ Tour of New Zealand                      Top ^

The purpose and value of this trip, facilitated by the Bank of I.D.E.A.S. and Envision New Zealand is summarized by Jo Archer Executive Officer of the Launceston Chamber of Commerce.

“The heritage market town of Launceston is now on the radar of large format/ big box retailers.  In an attempt to ‘manage’ this new retail trend in a very sensitive economy the Launceston Chamber and Council are investigating other ‘like’  centres to learn how Launceston can mitigate negative impacts on its existing precincts and maximise new opportunities.

The well structured NZ study tour, coordinated and hosted by Peter Kenyon, provided exposure to the good, the bad and the ugly of big box retail and variety of ways in which local councils handled their arrival.   Most councils revealed that they has misjudged the impacts and allowed developers to ride rough shod over them – with negative results for their communities. 

The key messages from the trip were that key City bodies (chamber, city marketing, councils, etc) must work together to manage new retail developments.  New developments must operate on a ‘level playing field’, comply with minimum and maximum sizes restrictions and respect design and building expectations of the City into which they move.

Councils must have the backbone to maintain control of their City’s processes and priorities and not be manipulated by developers.

The value of the trip surpassed participants’ expectations mainly because of Peter Kenyon’s extraordinary knowledge of the areas (and key people) around the country.  Without his contacts we simply would not have known how to bring together such a diverse range of views and experiences”

Click here to enlarge photo

For more information, contact Jo Archer on 03 6331 9364

Young Indigenous Study Tour of New Zealand                                   Top ^

Visit to Kaikoura Whale Watch

In early August, Peter Palmer from Bank of I.D.E.A.S. teamed up with Michael O’Meara from MOHOW to take a group of Indigenous young people from Shepparton, Victoria on a study tour of New Zealand

This was the first time that the young people had been overseas and as such they were well and truly taken out of there comfort zones to experience the Indigenous culture of another country .The ten day study tour exposed the young people to many facets of Maori culture as well as the beautiful scenery and the many adventure activities that New Zealand has to offer.

There were meetings with Indigenous organisations such as Ngai Tahu in Christchurch, Kaikoura Whale Watch in Kaikoura, a visit to the Te Papa Museum and a school for young mums in Wellington, the Tamaki Maori Village in Rotorua and a youth conference in Greymouth where they had to face their greatest fear of all in public speaking.

On the adventure side, activities included bungee jumping, quad bike riding, a jet boat ride and the Auckland Sky Screamer.

The trip was made possible due to the support of Donkey Wheel Trust (Brunner Family), the Department of Family and Community Services & local Indigenous organisations in Shepparton.

For more information on this and possible future tours please contact Michael O’Meara on 0418505519 or mom@westnet.com.au

Click here to enlarge photo

Changes to On-Line Bookshop                                                              Top ^

We are pleased to introduce Bob's Books who we have entrusted to fullfil orders placed by our clients through the Bank of I.D.E.A.S. website.

When you order a product, you will now be automatically re-directed to the Bob's Books website. When you place your first order, you will be asked to create an account, this means you will not have to re-enter your name and address details again when you make future purchases.

By partnering with Bob's Books, we can now offer you a wider range of resources and at the same time provide a more comprehensive and efficient service.

Whilst our prices now exclude postage, which will be calculated when you place your order, payment can still be made by credit card, direct card or invoice/purchase order.

Click here to go to our on-line bookshop.